Amazon rumored to release Alexa-powered wireless earbuds later this year

Amazon could be releasing a pair of wireless earbuds powered by Alexa as early as the second half of the year. Sources with knowledge of the plans told Bloomberg that the Alexa-powered wireless earbuds will look and function similar to the Apple AirPods, but Amazon is aiming to offer better audio quality for the earbuds.

Users can activate Alexa by voice to order goods, access music, weather and get other information on the go. The wireless earbuds will support physical gesture controls such as tapping to answer/end calls. The wireless earbuds will come with a charging case which can re-charged via a standard USB cable.

Amazon has ran into some development delays for the earbuds. It is also searching for suppliers and manufacturing partners in the past few months. The wireless earbuds are one of the most important projects in Amazon’s hardware division as it plans to move beyond smart home devices. Like its other hardware products, the wireless earbuds are probably going to undercut the competition.